Busted
by Untiltheveryend7
Summary: "James had assumed that after he and Lily had had a spontaneous snogging session in the third floor corridor during patrol, he'd finally get to take her to Hogsmeade. Alas, the fates had never been on James's side." Secret Relationship James/Lily. Written for Tumblr's Jily October.


_**Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me. All rights go to JK Rowling/Warner Bros. I do not profit in any way.**_

Busted

James had assumed that after he and Lily had had a spontaneous snogging session in the third floor corridor during patrol, he'd finally get to take her to Hogsmeade.

Alas, the fates had never been on James's side.

They'd pulled apart, each breathing deeply, lips tingling.

They opened their eyes at the same moment.

Lily opened hers to find James grinning from ear to ear, and wanted in equal amounts to grab that stupid face and kiss him again, or to whack her head against the concrete wall she was so conveniently pushed against.

"Oh, God," Lily was the first to speak, staring at James, "Bloody hell. Bloody, fucking hell."

James raised his eyebrows, the grin still not shifting. "Language, Evans. What would the first years think of their potty-mouthed Head Girl?"

"You... shut it," she said, pushing him away by the shoulders. "I mean it, James. Shut up. I need to process this."

James looked at her incredulously as he stepped back. "Process _what_?" he asked. "_You_ kissed _me_, remember?"

"Shut. _Up_."

"What's to process? I like you, you presumably like me, judging by that," he smirked. "So go to Hogsmeade with me, Lily."

"No," she said.

"No," he repeated. "Figures." But he couldn't quite bring himself to scowl.

Lily looked like she was going to spout out another string of swear words, and James couldn't stop himself from shuffling nearer again, and running a finger along her cheekbone.

"It's okay," he said, looking into her eyes. "Just tell me what you want."

He was comforted by the way Lily didn't flinch away from his touch, but subconsciously leaned into it.

Her green eyes were trained on him. "I think it's fairly obvious what I want," she said with a wry smile.

His hand was on the side of her face, and he stroked her cheek slowly with his thumb, listening intently.

She continued, "But I don't know, James. I just don't know. This is more complicated than you're making out. We're..." she steeled herself to verbalize her concern, for she knew how he'd react. "We're in a war, James. We're leaving Hogwarts in a matter of months, and we'll be entering a world in which people believe I don't belong."

"You-"

"No," she cut him off. "It's true. You're okay. They'd have you if they could. But get involved with someone like me..."

"Don't talk about yourself like that!"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm being realistic."

"You're being pessimistic."

She shook her head. "You don't get it."

"Too right I don't," James said.

They were silent for a moment, observing each other, sizing up the situation.

James sighed. "You want us to keep _this_," he gestured between them, "a secret, don't you?"

Lily looked at him, one side of her mouth slowly pulling up at the side.

"Well," she said, "I thought you were going to make this more difficult. But if no-one were to find out, there's no reason we can't do this..." she teasingly leaned in and lightly brushed her lips against his before pulling away to judge his reaction.

James had to hold back the involuntary shudders at her touch. "Not even our friends?" he asked. "It's not like they're going to dob us in to the gossip mill.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Have you _met_ Marlene McKinnon?"

James let out a low laugh. He nestled himself closer to her so he could breathe in her ear, "I suppose it does make things more _exciting_."

"At lack of excitement with me, Potter?" Lily asked innocently, threading her fingers through his hair, smiling.

Merlin knows she'd waited so long to do that.

James smirked back at her. "I don't think so, love."

"Glad to hear it," Lily said, letting James lean close enough to touch his lips to hers, before she pushed him away again.

"Come on, Potter," she said. "There are corridors to patrol."

"You are such a bloody tease, Lily Evans."

She grabbed James's hand and tugged him down the corridor, laughing.

* * *

James and Lily had three close calls in the duration of their secret relationship, the third of which had more progressive consequences.

The first of these encounters took place only a week or so after their first kiss.

Lily had excused herself from the common room to go and study. (Actually study; she hadn't been spending nearly enough time rereading her History of Magic notes since that fateful night, because every time she thought about it, James distracted her.)

And so down she went to the library, armed with a heavy textbook on Elvin Rebellions of the nineteenth century, and a steeled resolve.

She was going to sit down and learn about those damned elves if it was the last thing she did.

And so when a familiar voice said, "What'cha doing, Evans?" and dropped his bag on the floor next to her, Lily's teeth were gritted, even if she _was_ repressing a smile.

"I'm studying, Potter," Lily said, not looking away from the textbook as she spoke to him. "Foreign concept, I know." Her finger kept tracing the line of the words that she should have been reading, but in all honesty, she hadn't absorbed any information since he'd first spoken.

Damn it.

"Studying, eh?" James asked, apparently leaning in to look at the book, but in the process pressing his body against Lily's back, his head only millimeters from hers. She could smell that James-scent. Pine and Broomstick Polish.

"Looks fascinating," he breathed, before pulling away and taking the seat under which his bag lay.

"Go away," Lily said in a monotone, continuing to pretend-read.

"Why?" James said, resting his arm on the back of Lily's chair. "Not distracting you, am I?"

"Don't you have some pranks to pull," Lily asked, trying to act like his fingers skimming along her back weren't affecting her at all.

"Not endorsing rule breaking, are you, Head Girl?"

"If it gets you out of my bloody hair, perhaps."

"Now now, Evans," James said, his fingers changing direction so they skimmed up and down her spine, "Play nice."

"_James_," Lily chastised, finally giving in and tearing her eyes away from the book to swipe his wandering hands away. She leaned in closer to murmur, "What don't you get about _secret relationship_."

James turned around and made a show out of checking out the abandoned library section before capturing her lips for a moment in a brief kiss.

"Better?" he asked, smirking.

Lily could feel her cheeks flushing, her heart beating at a more rapid pace.

"You're a bloody prat," she said, textbook long since forgotten.

"You _like_ it," James grinned, leaning in again.

Lily made no move to stop him. She blamed her hormones.

By the time they heard footsteps, Lily had long since abandoned her own chair. She wasn't quite sure when it had happened, but she was straddling James's lap, her hands threaded through his dark hair. James's were, in theory, holding her around the waist, but they did tend to go wandering. His lips moved slowly against hers, but they still managed to bring that feverish excitement that only he could ignite in her.

Lily was surprised she heard someone approaching at all, considering how distracted she'd been, but her ears tuned in to footfalls coming around the bookcases, and she quickly pulled away from James, opening her eyes wide.

There was barely enough time for her to climb off him and settle back in her own chair before Sirius Black appeared at the end of the bookshelf.

Of course.

"I was wondering where you'd gotten to, Prongs," Sirius said, taking the seat opposite his best friend. "Surprised to see your dot over here."

Lily wished James would smooth down his hair a bit. It was even worse than usual, thanks to her eager fingers.

She wished he'd get his wits together a bit more quickly, too.

"You can take him away, Sirius," Lily said. "He's just a distraction. Get him to write his own notes, or at the very least, borrow Remus's."

Sirius smirked at her. "You know, you and Moony are the only two who actually _take_ notes in History of Magic..."

"Well, we'll be the only two who pass the exam then, won't we," she said primly, nodding to James, who seemed to have gathered himself together. "Off you go. Bye-bye, Distraction."

James smirked at her as he stood up, slinging his bag over one shoulder. "Always a pleasure, Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes as the two boys walked away, and turned back to her textbook with a smile on her face.

* * *

When Lily misplaced her Charms essay one morning, she told Marlene and Alice that they could go on to breakfast without her; that she'd catch them up.

And so they had left, Marlene laughing about her carelessness, Alice reassuring her that she'd bring Lily up a bacon sandwich when they were done.

And so Lily was left alone in her dormitory, desperately searching through drawers, her trunk, under her bed... there was no way that she'd have enough time to redo the essay, what with Flitwick's lesson being first that day.

She was in such a panic that she didn't hear footsteps behind her until he coughed.

Lily stood up from her position ducked to look under the bed quickly, and found herself hitting another warm body as she took a step backwards.

James just about stopped them from toppling back onto Marlene's bed, grabbing Lily's waist to stop her overbalancing.

Lily frowned up at him, taking a step away. "How did you get up here without setting the sirens off?"

James smiled, "Marauder secret, love," but Lily saw his broom leant against the wall next to the dormitory door, and figured that was it. So simple.

Lily wondered who'd been the first Marauder to try that one out.

Probably Sirius.

"I haven't got time to talk right now, James," Lily said, looking in her trunk for the umpteenth time, hoping that her homework had somehow miraculously appeared. "I'm looking for my-"

"Charms essay?" James asked, "You left it in the Common Room last night."

Sure enough, when Lily turned around, James was waving around a sheaf of parchment, decorated with Lily's looped scrawl.

He passed it over, and Lily looked through it, grinning in relief.

All the pages were there.

"You," Lily said happily, placing a hand on his chest and toying with the neckline of his robes. "Are wonderful. Thank you."

James smiled. "No problem."

"No, seriously," Lily said, discarding her rediscovered essay onto Marlene's bed and using her free hand to capture his. "Thanks. You flew all the way up here just to deliver my homework. That's really sweet."

James grinned. "Figured that out, did you?" he asked, looking towards the broom. Without waiting for an answer, he said, "any opportunity to get myself welcomed into a pretty girl's bedroom, really."

Lily scoffed. "It's not like you'd have left if I hadn't welcomed you."

"Oh, but I knew you would. I had your essay."

"I don't know how you managed to go from sweet to insufferable in a few short sentences, but I think you did."

"But you suffer through it nonetheless, Evans?"

"I suppose I do. God knows why."

"Good looks? Tantalizing conversation? Superior snogging?"

"Perhaps the last," Lily grinned, leaning up to graze her lips against his slightly-stubbled chin.

James ducked his head and smashed his lips against hers in a kiss that was different from any they'd had before. It was sharp and quick, his tongue flicking between her lips for only a half-second, capturing her bottom lip between his teeth gently as she made a move to deepen the kiss.

And then he pulled away.

"We need to get to breakfast," he pointed out, looking at her regretfully.

"Fuck breakfast," she said breathlessly, grabbing his robes to pull his face back down to hers, stringing her arms back round his neck.

James let her brush her lips against his, and he sighed lightly. "They'll wonder where I got to," he said.

"You're helping me search the common room for my essay-" she peppered a few kisses up his neck. "-simple," she said, not moving her lips, so the word vibrated against James's neck.

"I thought I was supposed to be the indiscreet one," James said, smiling as Lily continued her path up to his mouth.

"Shut up," she said.

And then he didn't really have much choice in the matter, his mouth otherwise occupied.

"You're a bad influence, you know," James said when they broke apart for a moment.

Lily pushed him back onto her bed and continued where she'd left off.

It was a good thing that Lily's friends were so loud in their approach, else the couple wouldn't have had enough time to do anything.

But as it was, James and Lily heard Marlene and Alice's laughs at the same moment, and broke apart instantly, opening their eyes.

"My bacon sandwich," Lily murmured to herself, confusing James considerably. "Oh, God."

Lily climbed off him quickly, and looked towards the door with wide eyes, then back at her bed, across which James was still sprawled.

"Under the bed!" she whispered urgently, grabbing the essay from Marlene's. "Under the bed! Now!"

James just about managed to get under the four poster before Alice and Marlene opened the door.

Lily had made her way over to her desk, and had picked up a quill, apparently proof-reading the essay.

"Oh, you found it!" Alice said, handing Lily a warm package wrapped in napkins, "Where was it?!"

"Oh," Lily said. "Yeah. It was- uh- under my bed."

"Ahh," Marlene said, eying the papers with interest, "Makes sense. You keep all kinds of junk under there."

Lily laughed nervously, searching her friend's face for traces of suspicion, and finding none, much to her relief. "Yeah. Got to clear out some time."

The bell rang signaling first lesson, interrupting the precarious conversation.

The three girls picked up their bags and made their way towards the door, Marlene only asking one more heart-stopping question before they left.

"Haven't seen James Potter, have you? The boys are looking for him."

* * *

It was ironic, really, the time and place of James and Lily's discovery.

They were supposed to be doing rounds; making sure there were no students out of bed, kicking amorous couples out of broom closets... the usual.

But halfway through, James hadn't been able to resist any more, and after checking a cupboard for a snogging pair, he pulled the Head Girl into it.

They didn't get long, only ten minutes or so, in which James had Lily pinned against the wall of the tiny cupboard, kissing her hungrily. Her thinly veiled protests at being so hypocritical had given way quickly.

And then the cupboard door had unexpectedly opened, and Lily and James hadn't sprung apart.

A grinning Sirius Black looked in at them, Peter and Remus at one side of him, Alice and Marlene at the other. He muttered an incantation to a sheet of yellowing parchment, and stuffed it back in his pocket.

"Got'cha," he laughed, looking to Marlene and Alice, who were grinning too. "About time, too."

Lily sighed, half-smiling at their friends.

She looked at James, whose body was still pressed against her own. He clearly didn't know how to react.

It might have been a selfish decision, but if there was one thing Lily knew, it was that she couldn't let James Potter go now. She was already in far too deep. They both were.

And so Lily Evans let out a short laugh, pecking James on the lips quickly. She pulled back so she could look James in the eyes, and said, "Guess we're busted, _Boyfriend_."

* * *

**A/N: This was so much fun to write. Ahh.**

**I totally have a thing for Secret Relationship!Jily, so I decided to write a fic of my own about it!**

**Hope you enjoyed :) Let me know what you thought!**

**Abi xx**


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